Former Super Falcons head coach Ismaila Mabo says the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and not Randy Waldrum should be blamed for Nigeria’s poor outing at the 2022 WAFCON in Morocco.
The Falcons under the tutelage of Waldrum, had their worst performance at the WAFCON after finishing fourth.
For the first time ever the nine-time champions lost three of their six games at the continental showpiece.
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Following the dismal performance, a lot of football fans have called for the Waldrum to be sacked.
But in his reaction to the team’s poor outing Mabo, a winner of the WAFCON in 1998 and 2000, said the blame should be on the NFF.
“We should not apportion blame on the expatriate coach when he is being brought to Nigeria to handle the Super Falcons,” Mabo, who took the Falcons to the quarter-finals of the 1999 women’s World Cup, was quoted on Brila FM.
“What criteria did the Nigeria Football Federation, especially the women football committee used in bringing the expatriate coach to handle the Super Falcons,” he questioned.
“We can’t just be apportioning blame on the expatriate coach, the question is what criteria did they use to bring him.”
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COMMENTS
Ismaila Mabo is by far the Nigerian Women’s team most successful coach. We should listen to him. What criteria did the NFF use to bring in the coach? We need to take action to salvage the situation.
A number of wrong can be listed. One has nothing to do with the coach. That of paying the Falcons their due entitlement. But that cannot be the only reason we failed. The refereeing was suspect. We should lodge a complaint after reviewing the match carefully. However, even Matisse a former captain of South Africa noted we fielded old players who were her contemporary! Obvious that team work was not as good as under some previous coaches. We need to strengthen the coaching crew.
This present squad showed more flair than Mabo’s squad. Obviously there is room for improvement especially in the attack. The trio of Ayinde, Oke and chuku (icannot remember the name) is the most compact midfield that we have ever featured. Giving away 2 red cards was our major undoing, we could have gone ahead to win. The team improved greatly after the loss to Bayana. Another truth is that other nations are also hungry and working tirelessly for same throphy. At least we qualified for the world cup. The team is a mix of old and fresh, we can now begin to retire the old legs. Relying on home base is another baseless excuse, our league is not capable of retaining good legs.
You are very right. This is the best group of talent that can compete with any team in the world. They are very fit. Football can be very funny at time, please improve on the attack and see what this ladies would do at world cup. They are the only African team that can match up with any teams in the world.
I have said it in one of my comments and I will continue to say it. The girls are not bad, however, they lack what makes them thick when the wold sees them. The world is afraid of nigeria because of our skill and physical play. This squad has flair, nevertheless, there is no cohesion and are not physically fit. If we take this to the world cup, we’ll be thrashed by all comers. NFF should look at all the clips of the female football matches in all categories where we have done well, they will see how our ladies ran for 90mins and are ready to run more. These ladies are good, Gift Monday needs to be polished i love her style of play,despite throwing away all chances. Onomunu, no 9, should be drilled, I love the way she shoot and jump to make contact with ball in the air. However, she lacks direction on some. If she can be thought how to direct her head more to the target. Okobi, oh beats my imagination, in 2018, I was not happy with her play but in this wafcon, l call her my LOVE. NO 23, I can’t remember her name, I am so happy that nigeria female football has a future. Look at composure and combatant being showcased. Rashidat, I am not surprised about you play keep it up, Oshoala get fit and learn not to be soft on 50/50 balls. Your absence affect your term mate and coaches. Onome, my veteran get well soon and work on your speed before the world cup.Ohale,continue and if possible improve more, I love your play. Nobody should blame any of the girls and coaches but criticise them constructively, I see good players that need good work and more importantly cohesion and fitness. Furthermore, oparanozie and others should be included. Ladies,modern football requires running lets learn how to run for 90mins. GREAT SUPER FALCONS!!!
I have said it in one of my comments and I will continue to say it. The girls are not bad, however, they lack what makes them thick when the wold sees them. The world is afraid of nigeria because of our skill and physical play. This squad has flair, nevertheless, there is no cohesion and are not physically fit. If we take this to the world cup, we’ll be thrashed by all comers. NFF should look at all the clips of the female football matches in all categories where we have done well, they will see how our ladies ran for 90mins and are ready to run more. These ladies are good, Gift Monday needs to be polished i love her style of play,despite throwing away all chances. Onomunu, no 9, should be drilled, I love the way she shoot and jump to make contact with ball in the air. However, she lacks direction on some. If she can be thought how to direct her head more to the target. Okobi, oh beats my imagination, in 2018, I was not happy with her play but in this wafcon, l call her my LOVE. NO 23, I can’t remember her name, I am so happy that nigeria female football has a future. Look at composure and combatant being showcased. Rashidat, I am not surprised about you play keep it up, Oshoala get fit and learn not to be soft on 50/50 balls. Your absence affect your term mate and coaches. The payne sisters, Hainde, Alozie well done, the lady from Leicester City, please work had to be rugged, you could be our next Ebi,please learn to be tough.Onome, my veteran get well soon and work on your speed before the world cup.Ohale,continue and if possible improve more, I love your play. Nobody should blame any of the girls and coaches but criticise them constructively, I see good players that need good work and more importantly cohesion and fitness. Furthermore, oparanozie and others should be included. Ladies,modern football requires running lets learn how to run for 90mins. GREAT SUPER FALCONS!!!
My surprise is that non of you commenting is stating the actual reason. Yes NFF is to be blamed and not the coach or players.
How can a team who protested for pay and bonuses perform well?
How many teams in that tournament went on strike because bonuses and allowances owed previously?
What are the bonuses payed to other big teams like South Africa and Morroco and how much is it compared to that of super falcons?
This is how guys pushed Rohr away because you scared of speaking the truth or to even face it. In the whole Africa Nigeria have the worst FA and the most corrupt one. Is either the super eagles striking for money or super falcons going on a protest in tournaments. Are we not tired disgracing ourselves? All these bad vibes distract a team.
Is hypocritical to blame the coach when the truth is staring at us. I refuse to join that stupid wagon.
At least someone else have said what I’ve been saying for ages on this website yet some people will still say it’s not NFFs fault but the coach,between NFF and the coach who is controlling who? Well said @Marvellous nice one.
These girls cannot be compared to the previous falcons with players like nwokocha, akide, avre, omagbemi etc who always dominate African teams. They knew their way to goal and whenever they played African teams it was a matter of how many goals they will score and not if they will win or not.
These current players are not on their level yet. They is still a lot of room for them to improve although the talent is there. All they need is determination and hard work.
The only room that needs improvement is the dirty room our NFF is sleeping in year in year out.
This current team is far far better, what was the level of the opposition when omagbemi and akide and others were playing? What achievements have we had underAmaju’s NFF? This squad is the most technical Falcons Team I have ever watched.
Pin nick must leave our sports if we want to grow; nothing to show for his two terms, is a politician and can never takes us to any where. Pin nick is ITT by “Fela” the great musician.
To add to these views expressed here, the big picture is the national government that can’t figure out a development plan the game like SA.
We labor in vain under the analog leadership we parade in this digital world. Mabo is largely right. Tnx
I read with interest the great points that have been raised here, one that if implemented will add value to the quality of Nigeria’s football moving forward. But my worry is: Are the football heads paying attention, let alone reading this so as to make the needed adjustments and improvements? If not, the truth is we’re just speaking into the air…
The team ,the coaching crew and the NFF are ok but they all need encouragement .
Please these girls need to be polished ,shaped and prepare very well for the world cup.
They are great and talented players .
Mr Amaju is a good football administrator.ilove his expertise.
See our squad a blend of future great stars trained with state of the arts facilities .
The NFF philosophy about our football now shows we have directions.
Let us be patient and we would experience greatness.
@Ketee can you please tell us Amaju’s achievement since he was appointed nff president(even though alot of us knew how it happened).
Amaju is the worst nff/nfa president/chairman to ever lead the national team both male and female.
He is nothing but a self serving egomaniac man. All talk but nothing.
If you can be owing SF allowance since 2016 (according to news out there as to why the ladies protested), that is a big shame.
These ladies have never been treated fearly.
And to talk of appointing a college coach to handle a national team is nothing but an insult and fraud.
Nigeria is not Delta state where be went to America to hire mercenaries for short term success. The man has failed woefully and hopefully by September he will be kicked out and efcc can now do there work
Women football in Nigeria does not need a foreign coach. We are good with local coaches handling falcons. No more foreign coach pls.
Nigeria should probe into that CAF and Morocco conspiracy .
They were against Nigeria winning for 10th time.
The referee and VAR were partners in this otherwise Morocco were to receive like 5 zero in that match.
The two teams especially Morocco did not deserve to play finals .
The finals lack the flavour and spark of the growth of the female game in Africa .
If they don’t improve ,their world cup outings will be very poor.
Stop to talking trash young man, unless you are paid by pinnick then I will say do your job.
Is Morroco and CAF conspiracy that instructed pinnick not to pay national team players and coaches as at when due. Which FA in the world is as wicked and clueless like Nigerian FA.
You are trying so hard to decorate a failed football administrator, I feel your pains.
Are they feeding from the bonus without it can’t the players play good football oga stop supporting nonsense
Left with me, it was bound to come. When you are picked because you stay abroad, when NFF hates constructive criticism as seen in Oparanozie’s case and when the coach seems to be obsessed with only foreign based players to start games, we will suffer till eternity. All the same let us learn to allow others win.
Obviously we don’t have a good finisher our number 9 is nowhere to found and she misses a lot of chance I just pray the bring back oparanozia
Mabo spoke my mind I’ve been wondering the criteria by which the NFF appoint coaches both local and foreign for example look at the local coaches who are currently on the SE apart from finidi whom needs a benefit of doubt because he’s still adapting to Nigerian football,the other coaches were relegated with their respective clubs although Kano pillars were of indiscipline but still why has coaches like ogunbote,eguma not gotten any appointments despite their proven track records. So the pinnick led NFF are one of the biggest problems of Nigerian football with their cluelessness,I’m a coach at the grassroots level yet there are no grassroots leagues where our potential national team players will learn the basic technical skills to grow as excellent footballers so as not to wait until they reach international level before they understand what these basics are all about.We need a new NFF that represents everything football stands for in Nigeria not the political that we have now.Tnx
the girls they are not bad atall but the referee she robber us and our power house is also bad not the players but our leaders
Many points to touch on here. Good point Mambo. Yes, what criteria? I kept hearing that NFF is the problem. But who is the head of that NFF? Pinnick! Right? How come many are not mentioning him? I’ll return that at the end. For those of us that don’t quite get it, please, please, the referee did not rob us in the Morocco game. We committed two clear red card fouls and she gave us two red cards. She did her ko
job. Before you say, “But she didn’t give the Moroccan player a red, don’t forget that like her, she gave Rasheedat a yellow as well, before VAR intervened and asked her to review the call. Thereafter, she withdrew the yellow and gave the “appropriate” red. If she was biased, she would have gone for red the initial time, which is how a biased official will instantly react. With 11 vs 11 players, we had complete control of the game and it became obvious that we wouldn’t have tired out as our 9 players showed. My point being that, we have ourselves to blame, not the officials. Commenting on a fan’s advice, instead of telling Asisat to go hard on 50:50s, especially in an insignificant play or part of field, she should rather be told to pull her leg out. That 1990’s “go hard” mentality is frowned upon in today’s game. For one thing, the player is unnecessarily exposing herself to injury or red card for using unnecessary “excessive force”. Remember Rasheedat’s red? That’s exactly what she did. It doesn’t matter that she wasn’t necessarily trying to hurt the Moroccan. That’s the rule and a red card offense. Not only that, our player’s club and coach will not be happy if they come back with such an avoidable, silly injury it could leave them with. I also saw where someone here, asked the SF injured defender to work on her speed. That was a funny request. Sorry, but there’s no such thing. Either you have speed or you don’t. Unlike other attributes and skills, it’s not something that can be taught or learnt. It’s like a car. You can fine tune it for optimum performance but you can’t fine tune a Hilux enough to outrun a Lamborghini. A south African ex-player commenef on our older players. You just don’t throw away a player based on just age but principally for their performance level. Besides, the best winning combination is usually a mixture of older and younger players. Look at Ronaldo and Dani Alves. Still performing! Okobi is not necessarily old but look at how she bossed it. At one point, she looked so confident and in control that it almost looked like she was playing with children who were not on her level. Not to mention her long sprint back deep into a game to prevent a goal, in one of the last two matches. One fan essentialy said DF ladies should have shut up and play. There lies the problem. Bonus is a pay. They worked and earned it and should be paid on time. There’s no excuse to run out of money. If that’s the excuse, why employ and pay different coaches all these millions when you’re owing people? Let’s face it, unless we have the likes of Guardiola, Klopp or Alex Ferguson who can make a palpable change, we’re not on the verge of winning the world cup tomorrow. Short of that caliber of coaches, then get whoever your budget can afford and free up the money to pay who you’re owing. My point being, even with all the foreign and domestic coaches we’ve had, we still have some game costing tendencies and approaches. Back to Pinnick, did he lodge any complaint about the laser. If you listened Ayane who scorwd Morocco’s winning goal, she said that she was so focused that she can’t even remember more than half of what the ref instructed her when she stepped up to shoot. Such is the margin between concentration and focus distabilization of a thing like laser light on one’s eyes in such an extreme, high pressure situation. Yet, no replay complaint was lodged on SF or Nigeria’s behalf. Similarly, none of the things mentioned here were shameful enough for Pinnick not to come to the CAF award and be praised by Asisat as being great to her team. Honestly, it was repulsive for me to take in, but l understand that it’s wise for her to shower that praise on him, wether or not it made her sick on the inside to say that. It is what it is!
Super Falcons are very good and fantastic team, it was just hatred of Ref and VAR
Most of us Nigerians only talk on emotions and not facts.Didn’t we all of us see what happened when the home based were used.Did they make any difference?
It’s unfortunate our press is calling a team that qualified for the world cup a poor outing.This is a team that lost in the semi- final narrowly after playing for most part of the game with nine women against the host nation.What our press wanted is that we win the championship till eternity.They have started condemning the coach and the girls instead of encouraging them.That is what they do to Rohr and they have started the same thing to our female team coach.I wonder what they would say if we have gone out in the preliminaries.